The Emerald Guardians
by Talandar
Summary: Chapter 5! Answers at last!
1. Fires of Chaos

Author Note: WHOO! My first independent fanfic ^^ Quick notes, I believe that the roboticizers are those capsules that Sonic and company break at the end of the stage. My reasoning is this: It has the animals that reside in Eggman's robots in them. Plus, in Sonic 2, one of the later levels has several capsules in it, and when you open some of them badniks pop out.   
  
Disclaimer: Sonic and all related stuffs is copyright Sega, the fox girl is copyright Tau/Catriona Prower, and the bat, polar bear, and echidna are copyright me! Oh, and you will find out there names ^^   
  
Fires of Chaos   
  
Eggman looked at his three newest test subjects, recording their vital stats on his computer for future reference.   
  
Subject #1   
Sex: Male   
Species: Bat   
Fur: Black   
Distinguishing features: White scar over left eye   
  
Subject #2   
Sex: Male   
Species: Echidna   
Fur: Brown   
Distinguishing features: None   
  
Subject #3   
Sex: Female   
Species: Fox   
Fur: Turquoise   
Hair: Blue   
Distinguishing features: none   
  
Subject #4   
Sex: Male   
Species: Polar bear   
Fur: White   
Distinguishing features: Several scars   
  
Eggman allowed a slight grin. That last one will make an excellent chaos robot. He commanded the computer to put Subjects 1, 2, and 4 into the capsules, and then inserted a chaos emerald into each of them. In with the Echidna went the red emerald. The grey emerald joined the bat, and the orange emerald was placed in the polar bear's capsule. The fox was then placed in a holding cell outside the room.   
  
"It's a shame that you won't join them, my dear. If only I had been able to obtain more of the emeralds." With that Eggman returned to the testing room. He went up to his computer, and commanded the capsules to start the roboticization process. The lights flickered and dimmed as the capsules drew extra power to contain the emeralds. Eggman rubbed his hands together in anticipation. Finally, he would be able to overcome that troublesome hedgehog. But then something went wrong. The capsules started sparking, and drew even more power. The lights gave out entirely. The only illumination came from the computer monitor before Eggman, which was displaying a warning message. Then even that went dark. Another failed experiment! What could have gone wrong?   
  
Eggman waited for the lights to come back up, trying to figure out what could have possibly went wrong this time. However, a clanging noise interrupted his thought process. He was beginning to get scared when the lights finally came back up. The clanging sounded again, this time clearly coming from the polar bear's capsule. Eggman summoned his guards, and opened the capsules. Before he even knew what was happening, the bear was out, tearing through the badniks. But something was wrong, nothing could be that strong! In a lull in the fight, Eggman saw something that made his heart freeze. The bear had white robotic arms. Behind him, in the empty capsule, lay the orange chaos emerald. Then Eggman heard the roar of a jet, and a foot was protruding from his now smashed console. It was the bat, except now his wings were made of black metal. The bat raised his arm to kill Eggman, but a buzzbomber smashed into him, knocking him away.   
  
Eggman stumbled back in shock. Everything was going wrong. And then the echidna attacked. His right arm, eye, and his dreadlocks were all robotic now. He was in the midst of the fight quickly, and he was firing off lasers and missiles easily. He was too accustomed to the robotic parts for only just having gained them. And then Eggman turned and ran to his escape route, getting in his Eggpod and flying off.   
  
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"RAAAAAAAAAAAAARR!!!!!!" It was several minutes later, and Eggman was long gone. The polar bear was still in his beserk rage, and between the three of them they had completely trashed the test room. The bear had broken down the doors, and the echidna was standing before the fox's holding cell, a cable going from his new robotic limb to the keypad next to the cell. The force field flickered for a moment and then slowly faded out, and the echidna stepped inside the cell, looking at the fox, who was pressed up against the back wall in fear.   
  
"Hello" the echidna ventured, trying to coax the girl away from the wall. She didn't move "Eggman's gone now." Still no movement. "I'm Talandar, who are you?" Talandar extended his real hand towards the girl, and she looked at it for a second. She started to shake, and then cry.   
  
"Aw, come on now, don't cry, everything's fine now." The girl looked up at Talandar, and then dove at him, hugging him tightly around the neck, sobbing.   
  
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The bat stood amonst the wreckage of Eggman's test room and sighed. Any information he could have gathered was ruined. He looked over to the door, watching the bear pick his way back in and over to the bat.   
  
"No sign of Eggman. He must have gotten away" the bear said absently.   
  
"I figured as much. He always has some sort of escape plan."   
  
"Damn him." The bear looked down at his new robotic limbs, quivering in rage.   
  
"Anger won't help us. We can't change them back now. The emeralds ruined the capsules." With that the bat gestured over to the capsules, two of which still held emeralds. "We should get them just in case Eggman returns." With that, the bear lumbered over to the orange emerald, the one which had saved him, and the bat glided to the grey emerald.   
  
"By the way, I'm Strike" the bat casually said to the bear.   
  
"Gorn. Pleasure, I'm sure. Now what about that other guy? The echidna?"   
  
"He went out that door, hasn't returned yet. I didn't see him take the red emerald, though. Wonder what happened to it." The soft whoosh of an automatic door opening drew their attention over to the opposite end of the room from them. Talandar and the fox were standing in the door way. They crossed over to Strike and Gorn, Talandar helping the fox at some points. The bat nodded at them.   
  
"Glad to see you made it. I'm Strike, and this is Gorn."   
  
"I'm Talandar. This is Catriona. She was also captured by Eggman, but apparently he only had enough emeralds for the three of us."   
  
"Speaking of emeralds, what happened to the red one?" Strike inquired.   
  
"I have it. But we need to leave. Now. Eggman will be sending reinforcements here, or he has some kind of bomb set up."   
  
"I agree. Let's make haste, then." Gorn, Talandar, Strike, and Catriona picked there way across the rubble towards the back of the room, where Eggman had escaped. Gorn grabbed the firmly shut door and slowly pulled it open. They made their way through the dimly lit tunnel that was revealed, occasionally running into a badnik. Finally, they were greeted by another door blocking the tunnel. Gorn opened this door as well and from there it was a short walk until they hit the surface, blinking because of the sudden light. They were in the middle of a forest a few miles from the base. After distancing themselves from the escape tunnel they finally got a chance to sit and relax.   
  
"Damn, I've gotta get some new jeans..." Gorn was fingering his thoroughly torn jeans, looking somewhat sad.   
  
"Oh, be quiet, at least you have clothes left. All of mine were destroyed" Talandar remarked.   
  
"Both of you, be quiet, we need to think about what to do now. Eggman will hunt for us, he's going to want these emeralds."   
  
"So we fight him off. With these new parts their's no way he can stop us." Gorn smirked as he said this, looking at the white metal of his robotic arms.   
  
"I doubt it. You haven't mastered use of your arms, and you haven't mastered your wings yet" Talandar remarked, gesturing to Strike and Gorn. "We need full control of these limbs to even have a hope of fighting Eggman. We need to lay low for a while. But he can track us..."   
  
"Um... I have an idea." Gorn jumped, having almost forgotten that Catriona was there.   
  
"Well then, let's hear it." Strike seemed genuinely curious to hear Catriona's suggestion.   
  
"Well... Wouldn't he be able to find you faster when you're together? So, why don't you split up?"   
  
"Hmmmm... You're right. We should split up. Besides, even if he does finds us, he won't be able to put his full force into an attack" Strike commented.   
  
"Then it's settled. Strike, Gorn, I guess I'll see you later. Catriona, you should come with me. It won't be safe out here." Catriona nodded tentatively. Strike nodded and muttered a farewell, melting into the shadows. Gorn smiled confidently, waved to them, and walked away. Talandar and Catriona stood there for a moment, watching him leave. Then Talandar took Catriona's hand and led her in the opposite direction that Gorn went.   
  
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After they had left, a white hedgehog materialized where they were standing.   
  
"Yes... They will be perfect. I wish you luck, guardians of the emeralds." 


	2. Fast Forward

(One month later. Station Square.)  
  
Talandar sighed. He didn't understand this. Why was Catriona so excited about something like shopping?  
  
Talandar continued looking through the shelves, searching for just the right shirt. He had already grabbed a pair of jeans, but he needed a certain type of shirt. He pulled out a plain black T-shirt, inspecting it closely. He smirked, realizing this was exactly what he needed. He pulled out three more of the shirts, and waved to Catriona.  
  
"Didja find anything good, Tal?" Catriona eagerly asked.  
  
"I found exactly what I wanted, Cat." Catriona proceeded to look through what he got.  
  
"Three black T-shirts and a single pair of jeans! Come on! You need some variety!" Talandar chuckled.  
  
"This is exactly what I came for, and so this is exactly what I get."  
  
"Come on, let me choose one shirt for you!" Tal shook his head, chuckling.  
  
"But I don't need to get another shirt. Now come on, let's go pay." They proceeded to go to the check out and pay and exited the store into the center of Station Square, crowded as usual. Ever since it was rebuilt after Chaos destroyed it, there were always people everywhere. Talandar and Catriona walked down the street towards their apartment building, chatting as they went.  
  
"Why are you so mad about my purchase? It was my money!"  
  
"You're so boring! You need to get better stuff. Variety is the spice of life!" They entered their apartment building, riding the elevator up to their floor and going into their apartment. They had managed to get a good sized apartment, complete with two bedrooms, a living room, bathroom, and kitchen.  
  
Talandar went to his room to put his new clothes away, leaving Cat to flop onto the couch and turn on the tv. She flipped through the channels, passing by talk shows, kiddy shows, infomercials, and the home shopping network before finally settling on the news. Their were the normal stories on corruption in government and business, reports of particularily disturbing crimes, and a special feature on gardening. Talandar came back out and sat down next to Cat in the middle of the gardening feature.  
  
"Thank you for that informative report on flowers, Daisy" the news anchor said cheerfully, smiling a very fake smile. "Now for our current stories. The evil Dr. Eggman has attempted to take over the world yet again." At the mention of Eggman's name, Talandar and Catriona sat up sharply. "And of course, Sonic foiled his vile plans again! With him were his fellow heroes, Tails and Knuckles. Sonic has been quoted as saying that 'it was a piece of cake, that eggbrain could never stand up to me!' In other news..." Talandar and Catriona weren't paying attention anymore.  
  
"He tried to take over the world? Maybe that means he isn't after you anymore" Catriona ventured cautiously.  
  
"I doubt it. We were used in an experiment. He wants us back. I know it." As if they were listening, a group of Buzzbombers smashed through the window to Tal and Cat's apartment.  
  
"SHIT!" Talandar jumped up and dashed between the Buzzbombers and Cat, firing off a quick laser from his robotic eye, destroying one of the robotic wasps. The rest aimed at Talandar and fired simoultaneously. Tal grabbed Cat and jumped back past the couch as it was shredded.  
  
"Get into you room and stay there!" Cat did this as Talandar dashed back to the living room to face the Buzzbombers. He caught one by surprise, smashing it with his robotic arm, firing a quick laser at the same time, destroying another. The rest shimmered and disappeared. Talandar stood there cautiously, hearing the buzzing of their wings as they flew around the room. One appeared in front of him. Roll under it, punch through it's abdomen. One appears to the right and left. Dive at the one on the right, crushing it's head, taking a grazing blow to the shoulder from the other. It disappears. 3 appear in front. Dive underneath them and shoot fire out of the robotic limb, making them explode. 6 left.  
  
All reappear. Only time to destroy three that were in a clump. The remaining three fire. No time to dodge it. Suddenly there was a flash of light and the shots ricocheted off an invisible shield. A white blur streaks through the three robotic bugs, and they blow up in it's wake.  
  
Talandar merely stood there in shock. He had no clue what had just happened. The white blur stopped before him, revealing itself to be a white hedgehog with upturned spikes and red streaks.  
  
"Uh... Hi?" Talandar blinked in shock. This was who did all that? "Thanks for your help, I'm-"  
  
"Talandar. Yes, I know who you are. I've been watching you. I need your help."  
  
"What? With what? I don't think there's much I can do that you couldn't, looking at what you did to those badniks!"  
  
"There are things you don't understand, and you don't need to right now."  
  
"Could you at least tell me your name?"  
  
"That is not important right now. All you need to know is you are neccesary."  
  
"What? When?"  
  
"I will be in touch with you." Talandar closed his eyes for a second, rubbing his temples.  
  
"So, let me get this straight. You will need me-" Talandar opened his eyes and found he was talking to an empty space. "Crap."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
(Unknown desert.)  
  
Strike watched his newest quarry walking over the sand dunes. He had taken the job of a bounty hunter/spy after escaping from Eggman, and this newest job had the most interesting target. An experimental robot created by the government as a way to counter Eggman's badniks. It was supposed to be the first truly sentient robot. That was it's problem. It broke out of the research facility it was in, taking the green chaos emerald with it. It seemed that whenever this robot got a chaos emerald it's form shifted slightly, reflecting it's new power. Right now it was in a sleek humanoid form with green glowing eyes and green lines all across its body.  
  
Strike pulled out his grey emerald, puzzling over his next move. The emerald had made all his previous assignments easy, but this one could prove difficult. He would simply have to bide his time, wait for an opening.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
(The Kor Mountains.)  
  
Gorn jogged up the trail, bobbing and weaving, jabbing at the air. The cool mountain air invigorated him. He had taken to boxing ever since escaping Eggman, and the illusion powers he had learned using the emerald had helped him avoid suspicions of his ridiculous strength.  
  
As he jogged up the trail, he could not help but sense the raw chaos energy that was all around him. There must have been several chaos emeralds here. So he decided to try to find them, and veered off the trail in the direction that the chaos energy was greatest.  
  
After some time climbing over rocks and boulders, he saw a large flat area in the otherwise uneven landscape. Standing in this area was an armadillo who seemed to be the source of the chaos energy.  
  
"Hey you! You got some chaos emeralds or something?" The armadillo looked over, and Gorn was unnerved. Something seemed unnatural about how hard his face was.  
  
"I have none of those weak jewels. They are useless to me."  
  
"The hell? Weak jewels? Who the hell are you?"  
  
"I am known as Kor. Now leave this place immediately."  
  
"So, you're threatening me? Heh... I'll show you how weak this jewel is!" Gorn pulled out the orange chaos emerald and prepared to fight.  
  
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YAY FOR CLIFF HANGERS XD  
  
John: I've never really liked satAM in particular, but whatever floats your boat, right? Oh, and about the chaos emerald thing, the reason Eggman did that chaos emeralds with them is that he was performing tests to make some kinda super badnik. Shoulda made that clearer ^^0 


	3. Fury's Failure

(Station Square.)  
  
"Done!" Talandar held up his shirt with pride, admiring it's design. On each of the black shirts he had gotten he had put stick figures doing something. On one they were dancing, on another they were kung fu fighting, on the third two were having a shootout, and on the final one a stick figure was chasing another stick figure with a knife.  
  
"What's so special about it? It's just a stick figure!" Catriona responded, sticking her toungue out at Talandar.  
  
"You'll see..." Talandar slipped on the Kung Fu shirt, and the stick figures came to life, actually fighting each other on the shirt.  
  
"What the? How the hell did you do that???"  
  
"That's for me to know and you not to." Talandar stuck his tongue out at Catriona. "But enough of that, we need to leave."  
  
"Huh? What for?"  
  
"Eggman has found us, we should leave the city before innocent people get hurt."  
  
"And where do we go? It's not like either of us have any living relatives. Are we just going to live in the wild?"  
  
"Why not? I was a wanderer before Eggman captured me. We can travel from city to city." Catriona sighed at this statement.  
  
"Fine then, we better go."  
  
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(Kor mountain range.)  
  
Gorn concentrated on the emerald, willing it's power to envelope him. He felt that familiar orange haze settle over his mind, and set his sights on the enemy before him. Everything else was lost to him. He focused his energy, stepping to the side and leaving a copy of himself there. Kor didn't even move. Then Gorn attacked.  
  
Gorn and all his copies dove forward, punching in tandem. They smashed into Kor, and he fell apart. Crashed down into a pile of rocks. And what felt like a boulder slammed into Gorn's back, causing him to lose his concentration and lose the copies. He stumbled forward, whirling around, seeing Kor standing there calmly.  
  
"You should leave now, young one. I do not wish to destroy you."  
  
"FUCK YOU!" Gorn dove again, and this time Kor easily sidestepped the attack and brought his knee up into Gorn's gut.  
  
"You cannot defeat the earth itself, child."  
  
"The hell are you talking about?"  
  
"Poor, deluded child. You believe that the most powerful energy in this world is the chaos emeralds. They are not. There is a greater power. You can never hope to defeat me, for I possess that power. Now leave this place before I am forced to destroy you." Kor narrowed his eyes at Gorn as he spoke, stepping back. Gorn slowly struggled up, clutching his stomach.  
  
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I will leave. Only to get stronger so I will defeat you. I'll be back." With that Gorn stumbled down the trail.  
  
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(An unknown desert.)  
  
Strike had been shadowing his quarry for several days now as it went in the exact same direction without pause. It was obviously locked onto something, though what Strike could not guess. As time passed Strike noticed something in the distance. Some kind of mountain range. Checking his computer revealed it to be the Kor mountain range.  
  
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(Great forest, West of Station Square.)  
  
"So, uh.... Where exactly are we going?" Catriona yawned, stretching, then got back to helping Talandar break camp.  
  
"The Kor mountain range. I have some friends there that may be able to help us." Talandar crammed the rest of their stuff inside a bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Well, let's go!"  
  
As they walked off, a shadow followed their movements in the treetops.  
  
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A/N: This is what we call foreshadowing, kiddies ^_~ 


	4. Robot Revealed!

(Kor mountain range.)  
  
  
Gorn growled, punching the air. The horrible loss the day before had humiliated and infuriated him. He hadn't even slept last night. Every minute he was either training or eating. Even when he was eating he was training in the use of his emerald. Already he had made huge advances in his control of it, and he was still getting more skilled. Soon he would be ready to take on Kor again.  
  
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(West end of the Kor mountain range.)  
  
The robot had just entered the mountains and still had not changed direction. These mountains were known for their unforgiving nature. Several myths revolved around the fact that many who set out to explore these mountains were never seen again. While it was true that none who had thoroughly explored the mountains ever returned, Strike found it doubtful that it was because the mountain itself didn't want them to be exploring. Still, there could be a chaos emerald here, which was probably why the robot was coming here.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
(East end of the Kor mountain range.)  
  
"So where the hell is this ally of yours?"  
  
"Just a bit farther and we should find him" Talandar responded, helping Catriona over a boulder. They had entered the mountain range earlier in the day and Catriona's patience was wearing thin.  
  
"So who is this guy?"  
  
"He's a fox, old friend of mine. He's always had a good hideout here for when I got into trouble." Catriona stifled a laugh at this.  
  
"So you're a troublemaker, eh?"  
  
"You bet! I'm the worst type of scoundrel there is" Talandar joked, winking. Catriona started laughing outright upon hearing this.  
  
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(West end of the Kor mountain range.)  
  
The robot, still walking towards the source of chaos power, initiated a routine scan of the surrounding enviroment. That bat with the chaos emerald was still following it. He would have to be dealt with soon.  
  
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(Kor mountain range.)  
  
"KOR! Time for you to die!" Gorn launched himself at Kor, focusing all his senses on this battle. Kor simply dodged all his attacks.  
  
"You fool. Did you not learn your lesson last time? You can not hope to defeat the mountain itself!" Then he punched forward and a rock shot out, growing as it flew until it was a boulder, colliding with Gorn. Gorn just barely stopped it, pushed back several feet by the force of the attack. Letting out a cry of rage, Gorn leaped over the boulder to find that Kor wasn't there.  
  
"FACE ME, DAMNIT!" This cry was answered by a swift kick to the legs, knocking Gorn down. Kor proceeded to pick Gorn up by the back of his neck and throwing him across the small clearing they were in.  
  
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(East of the clearing.)  
  
"KOR! Time for you to die!" Talandar and Catriona looked at each other in shock.  
  
"Was that Gorn?" Catriona looked at Talandar with a hint of fear in her eyes. Talandar simply nodded, dashing forward, gaining the clearing just in time to see Kor throw Gorn. Catriona followed in time to see Talandar dash forward to attack Kor.  
  
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(West of the clearing.)  
  
"KOR! Time for you to die!" Strike started upon hearing this, almost giving away his position. It sounded like Gorn. And the robot had broken into a run towards where the sound had come from. Strike dashed after it.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
(The clearing.)  
  
Talandar dove at Kor swinging, but the armadillo simply dodged each blow. Talandar jumped back for a second, bring his robotic arm to bear and letting deadly flame pour out of it. This washed over Kor with no apparent effect. Then Gorn re-entered the fight with a punch to the back of Kor's head, causing him to crumble to the ground in a pile of rocks. Talandar felt something grab his ankle, lift him up, and throw him into Gorn, who easily caught him and set him down. They looked over to where Talandar had been a moment ago, only to find that there was nothing there. Then Kor reappeared in two places, to either side of Gorn and Talandar. They both dashed in different directions, bearing down on the armadillo.  
  
Catriona watched all this from the side of the clearing and thus was the first to see a robot come charging in followed by Strike. She gasped in shock as Strike tackled the robot but was knocked back by a surge of electricity, crumpling against a rock wall. The robot walked over to Strike, reached down and pulled the grey emerald out from his gi. It opened a panel on it's chest, inserted the newly aquired emerald into it, and closed the panel. It doubled over in pain, dark energy washing over it. As Catriona watched, it grew bat-like wings and became pitch black except for its eyes and several growing green lines spread across its body.  
  
It rose from its slumped position and cast its gave on the ongoing fight between Gorn, Talandar, and Kor. It dove into the Kor that was battling Talandar, driving its claws right through his heart and sending green and grey energy crawling all across his body. Kor's body arched back as he screamed in pain and the Kor that Gorn was fighting fell apart into a pile of rubble. As Talandar watched in horror, Kor's body condensed into a brown emerald that the robot held in its hand.  
  
"What the fuck just happened?" Gorn bellowed, having walked over to where Talandar was standing. "Who the hell are you?" The robot glared at Gorn for a moment.  
  
"I am a government created sentient android, model number MX-760. I required this hyper emerald, just as I require your chaos emerald." And then it was on Gorn, landing a solid blow to his head, throwing him back several feet and knocking him unconcious. MX then whipped around, catching Talandar in the chest with its foot, sending him flying in Catriona's direction. He slumped against a rock, devoid of all signs of life. It then stalked over to Gorn, searching him for the orange emerald. Finding it, he held it up triumphantly before inserting both the orange and brown emeralds into his chest compartment. After its transformation was over several of the green lines had become orange and long claws seemingly made of diamond had sprouted from the back of its hands. It then flapped its wings and took off, heading to the north.  
  
As soon as it was gone Catriona dashed to Talandar, seeing if he was ok. He slowly opened his eyes.  
  
"Cat...? What happened?"  
  
"Some freaky robot came and attacked you, Gorn, and Strike, and took Gorn and Strike's emeralds."  
  
"Oh, crap!" This was the moment the white hedgehog chose to step forward, revealing himself.  
  
"Crap indeed. That robot, the MX-760, is trying to gather all the chaos and hyper emeralds to make itself super powerful. It wants to kill us all."  
  
"Hyper emeralds? Who the hell are you and what are you talking about?" Talandar staggered up as he said this, leaning on Catriona for support.  
  
"This may take a while, and your friends should here it too." The hedgehog proceeded to walk over to Gorn and Strike, discharging white energy into each of them. They both slowly stood up, shaking their heads and stumbling over to Talandar.  
  
"All right, you owe us an explanation. Now"  
  
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Yes, an explanation he owes indeed! What will it be, though? Tune in next time! XP 


	5. Power Revealed

(The Kor Mountain range.)  
  
"I am Crin. What you just witnessed was the defeat of a hyper emerald. That hasn't happened in several millenia." Talandar, Catriona, Strike, Gorn, and Crin had walked away from the clearing to a more defensible position nearby, and Crin was proceeding to give them the explanation they deserved.  
  
"Wait, what are these hyper emeralds that you keep talking about?" Gorn scratched his head. This was all new to him and he was still slightly woozy from the battle.  
  
"In ancient times, long before the beginnings of civilization, the chaos emeralds and the master emerald were created. At this same time the hyper emeralds were created. However, the hyper emeralds were made to represent the power inherent in everything. Because of this power it was neccesary to balance them out by creating them as rival emeralds to each other. There was earth and air, fire and water, light and dark. Also because they were so powerful, they became sentient. They became shape-shifters, some choosing to blend in with society while others seeked a life of solitude. They survived until recently without anyone discovering them. However, the government, in its tests to create that robot, the MX-760, inadvertantly stumbled upon the hyper emerald of fire. He escaped quickly, but not before the government got enough data to track down each of the hyper emeralds. They put that data in the MX-760, and that was why he came here so quickly."  
  
"Wait, lemme get this straight. There are intelligent super powerful chaos emeralds? Why the hell should we believe you." Gorn refused to believe this was true.  
  
"You mean other than the fact that you just witnessed the earth emerald's defeat? That's right, Kor is the earth hyper emerald. But if you need more proof, I will provide it." That was when Crin reformed into a white cat anthropomorph with red streaks. "I am also a hyper emerald. I am the hyper emerald of light. We can change any detail on our bodies except for the basic color scheme. I will always be white with red streaks. Kor will always be brown with a hard appearance. However, we all have our preferred forms. Mine is a hedgehog, while Kor's is an armadillo. However, Kor was the most adept at shapeshifting among us. He may have even been able to change his color soon." Crin shifted back to his hedgehog form as he spoke.  
  
"Ok, so what do we do about it?" Talandar asked.  
  
"Simple. I need your help to stop the MX-760 from gathering the chaos emeralds. First we need to split up. Strike, you come with me. We're going to find Twisa. Gorn, Talandar, Catriona. You three will go to protect the red emerald. It's on southside island."  
  
"The red emerald? But, Tal, I thought you-" Talandar silenced Catriona with a quick look.  
  
"As I was saying, the red emerald is currently on Southside island. The blue emerald is on Angel Island, but that is where the MX-760 is headed. There is no way we can make it there in time. The light blue and purple emeralds, however, are in GUN's possession. For now we'll have to trust GUN to protect them, though not for long. As soon as we find Twisa, we'll find you three at Southside Island. Now get going." And then Crin changed into a falcon form, taking off quickly, with Strike activating rocket boosters in his wings to keep up.  
  
"Ok, I want an explanation now, Tal. You said you had the red emerald." Catriona looked sternly at Talandar, mad that he had lied to her.  
  
"I'll explain when we get to Southside island. Now let's go!" With that Talandar grabbed Gorn's arm with his robotic arm and grabbed Catriona with his real arm. Then his robotic dreadlocks went stiff and jets engaged on their tips, propelling the three into the air.  
  
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(Angel Island.)  
  
Knuckles leaned back against the master emerald, relaxing at last. It had been some time since the last time anyone had made a move to take it. And the blue emerald he had aquired made things even easier. Perhaps he would be able to relax at last. Then the robot touched down in front of him.  
  
"Subject identified as Knuckles the echidna, guardian of Angel Island and the master emerald. I require your chaos emerald, echidna."  
  
"Over my dead body!" Knuckles jumped up and punched forward, channeling the master emerald's power into a bolt of lightning which slammed into the robot, causing it to fall down to one knee.  
  
"Effect of attack analyzed. The master emerald's power neutralizes that of the chaos emeralds, rendering my emeralds useless. However, it does not effect the hyper emerald." With that the MX-760 drove it's crystalline claws into the ground. Nothing happened for a moment. Then a crack opened underneath Knuckles. He barely managed to keep from falling in by grabbing onto the side. He flipped back up and was greeted by a hard kick to the head. He was sent flying off the shrine, and the last thing he thought before he lost conciousness was 'Shit...'  
  
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(Southside Island.)  
  
Talandar gently set Gorn and Catriona down before initiating a full scan of the area, attempting to locate the emerald. Meanwhile Gorn checked the immediate area to ensure their safety while Catriona glared at Talandar, still mad about him lying about having the red emerald.  
  
"Found it. It's approximately 300 yard that way. Above us, though."  
  
"That would be Pyre volcano. It has as bad a reputation as the Kor mountains..." Gorn said nervously. "Maybe another hyper emerald is there too."  
  
"Yeah, that's all well and good, but how can the red emerald be there? Tal, you said you had it! Were you lying to me?" Catriona was furious over his lie now. Talandar looked over at her and sighed.  
  
"Well, I guess you do deserve an explanation... The truth is, I have a form of it. When Eggman tried to roboticize me it... Fused with me. With my brain, specifically. But because it was no longer a true chaos emerald, I'm guessing another red emerald appeared." Catriona looked wide eyed at Talandar upon hearing this. How the hell hadn't she noticed that before.  
  
"But enough of that, we need to get to the emerald now." Talandar started off quickly towards the Pyre volcano, with Gorn following quickly. Catriona stood there for a moment, still in shock, before hurrying after them.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
(Windy Valley.)  
  
"Twisa! We know you're here somewhere!" Crin and Strike had landed on the flying platforms that were suspended over Windy Valley. Crin, back in his preferred hedgehog form, was calling out to Twisa.  
  
"Hey, Crin. Kor wasn't exactly nice to us. Why the hell would Twisa cooperate?"  
  
"She's always been the most open of the emeralds. She's even socialized with humans. I don't understand how she does it, though."  
  
"That's because you and all the others have always been way to stiff. You need to loosen up, live a little." Strike spun around to face this new person. Standing before him was a female fox with mottled white and sky blue fur. She had a black tanktop on and cut off jeans. Strike just couldn't stop himself from staring. This wasn't exactly what he imagined from a super powered emerald turned sentient shapeshifter. Twisa noticed his gaze.  
  
"What are you staring at, boy? I got several thousand years on you, so I think I deserve a little respect! Oh, and Crin, you didn't need to shout! I can hear you whispering from a mile away. Now what do you want?"  
  
"We need your help in stopping the MX-760. If we don't stop it we'll all revert to emerald form, just like Kor did." At Crin's mention of Kor's name, Twisa let out a very quiet growl.  
  
"Why the hell should we care what happens to Kor?"  
  
"While I know you would kill him if you had the chance, he is neccesary to this world. With him gone the ground itself will lose its power. We need to defeat the MX-760." Twisa sighed as she listened to this.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right. So I guess now we go find Nage, right? He will be more cooperative than Pyre, at least."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
(Pyre Mountains.)  
  
"Ok, what now?" Catriona craned her neck back, looking for a way into the volcano that stood before her.  
  
"Easy, we bust our way to the emerald." Gorn shrugged, as if this was something that should be obvious.  
  
"And this is where we start. Behind this boulder is a cave. I can hear echoes when I hit it. Now Gorn, do your stuff." Talandar stepped aside, holding his arm out to the boulder, inviting Gorn to it. Gorn walked up. He studied the boulder, looking at it from every angle. After a short time of this, he merely shrugged, and slammed his robotic fist into the boulder, shattering it.  
  
"Easy as pie" Gorn said, shaking the dust off his hands. "Lead on, fearless leader!" Talandar shook his head at his new title, chuckling, before walking into the cave, helping Catriona over the rubble.  
  
"Ok, let's see... It seems like the emerald is right at the end of this cave. Let's go, guys." Talandar started walking faster, almost tasting his victory. He was hardly paying attention as he walked into a large cavern, only realizing where he was when he heard the dull roar of the volcano. He looked around, realizing that he was on a large platform raised up above the lava, with only a thin bridge connecting it on two opposite ends. In the exact center was a raised pedestal, bearing a perfectly cut red gem. Talandar grinned, running towards the emerald, happy that this was such an easy victory against the MX-760. And then he was flying backwards, face throbbing with pain.  
  
"Who dares disturb the home of Pyre?"  
  
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A/N: I'm evil XP 


End file.
